Vyacheslav Sinyugin, CEO of Russia's Federal Hydrogeneration Company (HydroWGC) and Nand Khemka the chairman of India's SUN Group, inked on Saturday a memorandum of understanding to develop India's hydro-power plants in India and Nepal.

The agreements were signed at the XI St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Russia's Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref attended the signing ceremony and said that the event was of key importance for Unified Energy Systems (UES), Russia's electricity monopoly, whose production arm Silovye Mashiny manufactures power generation units. UES controls 100 percent of Hydro WGC.

According to the memorandum the two companies may establish a joint generation company in India. For this purpose, they will be considering different options such as the construction of new hydro power plants using HydroWGC's scientific potential and experience or the acquisition of existing hydroelectric plants.

The ultimate goal of the joint company is a long-term contribution to the development of electricity generation and distribution in India, According to Sinyugin, the two companies will also set up a managing company by the end of this year. This venture will oversee the preparation of projects to build hydroelectric plants, The agreement also paves the way for the SUN Group to invest in HydroWGC's construction projects.

SUN Group is already involved in a partnership with a Russian energy partner, ITERA, through their Suntera joint venture, which is building an LNG terminal in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Bilateral energy cooperation is also backed through projects with Russia's Technopromexport (which builds thermal power planst), and Atomstroiexport (which develops nuclear power stations).

At the St. Petersburg forum, economic ties between Moscow and New Dehli received a new boost after the signing of an agreement that pledges to triple the trade tunover between the two countries by 2010.

Thus, in three years bilateral trade should grow to $10 billion per annum from $3.6 billion in 2006. " This will help create dozens of thousands of new jobs and attract new investment," said Gref who signed the document on behalf of Russia.

The Federal Hydrogeneration Company (HydroWGC) is currently the largest hydroelectric company in Russia. It has underwent the state registration procedure on December 26 2004 in Krasnoyarsk, Eastern Siberia. The company's authorized capital HydroWGC as of the date of incorporation amounts to 103,951,322,702 rubles (nearly $4 billion). HydroWGC owns 50 hydro power plants with total installed capacity of 23.3 GW. The company's revenue made 24 billion rubles (more than $923 million) in 2006, while its net profit reached some 2.9 billion rubles (more that $111.5 million).

SUN Group is a private family investment company. It operates in Russia, India, Europe, the United States and Africa. Since the 1990s the company has ranked among the leaders in investment in Russia and the CIS. Currently SUN Group is focused on energy, minerals industry, real estate and high-tech projects.

In the Media
Centre you will find press releases, articles
and other documents issued by SUN, its portfolio
companies and third parties.